Record 192 (1871)

This record provides information on the demographics and population of Madras Presidency in 1901.

‘The population of the Madras Presidency in the first organized census undertaken in 1871 was recorded as 31 million, increasing to 42 million in 1901.[...] Those engaged in agriculture constituted 34 percent including Vellalar, Brahmin landlords and agricultural labor like Pallar. The merchant castes constituted 3.1 percent while the Kaikkolar weavers constituted 3.7 percent. The Pattunulkarar/Saurashtrar may have made up nearly 9 percent of the total population weaving communities region is explained by its historical situation as a textile center. The Pattunulkarar constituted the largest group of weaver migrants in the Vijayanagar and post-Vijayanagar periods. It is note worthy that this community rose to great prominence in the political and cultural domain of the region during the colonial period. [...] The numerical strength of Kaikkolar which seems to be an umbrella term for all weavers including the migrant Kannada speaking Devanga.

Source: Census, 1871 - Cornish, 1874. Quoted in: Vijaya Ramaswamy, Mapping Migrations of South Indian Weavers before, during and after the Vijayanagar Period: Thirteenth to Eighteenth Centuries, p.102